What do Andy Murray and Madonna have in common? As trivia questions go, that is a doozie... until you hear the 20-year-old Scot talking about his new-found enthusiasm for Bikram yoga. A desire to sit in swelteringly hot rooms performing eye-watering contortions is apparently something he and the Material Girl share.

Murray is hoping that the time he spent in December doing just that will have provided him with the ideal preparation for playing in what is likely to be a similarly sweaty Australian Open. He was introduced to Bikram yoga by his new fitness trainers Jez Green and Matt Little and is an enthusiastic convert to the art, so much so that he could be seen yesterday giving an impromptu demonstration of its techniques in the middle of Tennis Australia's reception area in the bowels of Melbourne Park. The sight of a shirtless Scot holding his leg straight out in front of him at a 90-degree angle and pushing it upwards by increments is not easily forgotten.

"When you're doing a lot of training, it's a great way of kind of getting used to the heat and also improving your flexibility," explained Murray. "I've done five or six classes now and it's been really good fun. It's different to normal yoga because it's done at 42 degrees. Regular yoga just looks like normal stretching to me. It's not as much fun, whereas this, until you do it, you can't believe how difficult it is. I mean I did some tough fitness work in the off-season and that's one of the hardest things to do. In a room with no windows, and with 20 other people in there, and just trying to hold postures and stay balanced and concentrated the whole time, it's really tough."

Murray - who clearly has the masochistic streak required of all truly dedicated sportspeople - admits he is still some way off getting himself into the sort of positions that Bikram's inventor, San Diego-based yogiraj Bikram Choudary, demonstrates on his somewhat arresting website.

"I can't really do any of the good stuff yet but I think if I keep doing it then, in about six months, there'll be a huge improvement in flexibility and also strength," said Murray. "It's all about progression. It's the perfect way to actually tell if you're improving, because you can either do the exercise or you can't."

Whether it's the yoga, or all the other, more conventional work Murray has done with Green and Little, the Scot seems full of justified confidence over his ability to withstand whatever the Australian Open throws at him. The first grand slam of the season - and Murray's first since replacing Brad Gilbert with Green, Little and a selection of other advisers - gets under way on Monday.

Before that he will spend the next few days taking part in the Kooyong Classic exhibition event, where he is guaranteed three matches, the first of which was due to take place against Marat Safin in the early hours of this morning, UK time. With the temperatures forecast to rise into the 40s tomorrow and Friday, all that time spent in overheated rooms during the off-season should stand him in good stead, as should the four weeks he spent training intensively at Nick Bollettieri's Academy in Florida during December. "Hopefully I'll be used to it," he said.

Murray could scarcely have hoped for a better foundation for the season, and last week's victory at the Qatar Open in Doha proved the value of all that hard work. Madonna - and Murray - might just be on to something.

  • Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open finalist, has replaced Roger Federer in the draw at the Kooyong Classic. Federer withdrew from the invitational event on Monday with a stomach virus, though he said he expected to resume training later this week as he finalised preparations for next week's Australian Open, the season's opening grand slam.

Baghdatis lost in four sets to Federer in the 2006 Australian Open final and despite losing in the first round of the Chennai Open last week, he said reaching the final of the doubles with France's Marc Gicquel had at least given him some match practice.

Nikolay Davydenko, the world No.4 who has replaced Tommy Haas, will meet Baghdatis in today's first match, followed by Andy Roddick, last year's winner, playing Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic. Chile's Fernando Gonzalez meets the Argentine David Nalbandian before Murray faces Safin.

  • Jamie Baker, the Scottish No.2 and British No.3, has a tough draw in the first round of qualifying for the Australian Open. The 21-year-old from Glasgow will meet the Russian Yuri Shukin, seeded No.9. Schukin is ranked No.120 in the world, nearly 100 places above Baker, who is at No.217.



So, what exactly is Bikram yoga?

  • Bikram, or hot, yoga is done in a room heated to between 100 and 115 degrees and usually kept at around 60% humidity. It comprises a set of 26 specific postures or asanas which need to be performed in a certain sequence. The whole exercise takes about 90 minutes and it has to be done every day.

It is not for everyone. Even the founder of the discipline, Choudhury Bikram - a gold medal Olympic weightlifter - affectionately refers to his studio as his "torture chamber".

  • Bikram yoga is a comprehensive workout that includes all the components of fitness: muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular flexibility and weight loss.
  • The heat produces a much easier stretch because warm muscles are suppler and more malleable, therefore allowing for greater range of movement in joints, muscles, ligaments and other structures in the body.
  • The cardiovascular system gets a very thorough workout. Capillaries dilate more in the heat bringing oxygen more efficiently into the tissues, muscles, glands and organs and helping the expulsion of waste. Just as when the body raises its temperature to fight infection, the raised temperature in the room assists in improving T-cell function and the proper functioning of the immune system.
  • The long-term effects of hot yoga are valuable. Because muscles and connective tissue become more elastic, the risk of injury is greatly reduced. It also aids recovery from injury.
  • As in all yoga disciplines, the mental health benefits are significant. Devotees enjoy greater willpower through discipline, self control, concentration and determination and also learn techniques to control stress.